Tapestry of Faith: Love Will Guide Us: A Program for Grades 2-3 that Applies the Wisdom of the Six Sources to the Big Questions

Alternate Activity 2: UU Source Constellation - World Religions

Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

Preparation for Activity

  • Review this activity. Plan how to incorporate it into the session Opening.
  • Purchase gold and silver star stickers.
  • Print out Handout 1, UU Source Constellation - World Religions for all participants plus one extra.
  • Print out Leader Resource 1, UU Source Constellation Answer Sheet - World Religions
  • Using Leader Resource 1 as a guide, on one copy of the handout use star stickers to mark the spiral: Place gold star stickers on the outlined stars and silver star stickers on the solid stars. Do not connect the gold stars. Post the constellation on the Night Sky along with the Big Dipper and North Star.

Description of Activity

Use this activity with your Opening to add additional Source constellations to your Night Sky.

Tell the children:

Our Sources are the way we are guided as Unitarian Universalists to help us live our faith.

Ask the children if they remember (or know) what a "source" is. Allow a moment for responses. Then, explain that the definition of source you are looking for has to do with origin, or beginning.

Distribute the UU Source Constellation handout. Say, in your own words:

Today we are talking about our third Source, wisdom of the world's religions. Unitarian Universalists learn from Hinduism and other religions of the world- Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, and many more-that have messages about love. To help us learn from world religions, we have a constellation named in honor of this UU Source. Some stars can be connected to look like a spiral. Can you find it in our Night Sky?

Give children time to look for the spiral. As children find it, let them show you by tracing with a finger on their own handouts.

Distribute gold and silver stars. Have children stick gold stars on the outlined stars and silver stars on the solid stars on their handouts. Then, invite them to pencil the spiral by connecting the gold stars. Tell them they may take home their own World Religions constellations.

Light the chalice.